Edmund White – the ‘godfather of gay literature'– is no more: 6 books you should read

Indian Express

05-06-2025

Edmund White, the author who redefined queer literature, passed away on June 3, 2025, at the age of 85. A prolific writer, White penned over 30 books, including autobiographical novels and biographies, that captured the complexities of gay life with wit, sensuality, and emotional depth. His work chronicled everything from the liberating hedonism of pre-AIDS New York to the devastating losses of the epidemic, cementing his legacy as one of the most important gay writers of the 20th and 21st centuries.
White wrote fearlessly, blending high literary style with raw, often explicit accounts of desire and identity. Below is a guide to some of his most essential books.
1. A Boy's Own Story (1982)
A semi-autobiographical coming-of-age novel that became a cornerstone of gay literature.
Set in 1950s America, A Boy's Own Story follows an unnamed teenager grappling with his homosexuality in a repressive, homophobic society. White's protagonist is introspective and conflicted, simultaneously drawn to and ashamed of his desires. The novel captures the loneliness of adolescence as the boy navigates fraught relationships with his distant father, troubled mother, and a series of older men who both fascinate and confuse him.
What makes this novel canonical is its refusal to sanitise the queer experience. The protagonist is neither a victim nor a hero but a complex, sometimes selfish young man trying to understand himself. White turns personal memory into something universally resonant. A Boy's Own Story remains one of the most influential coming-out novels ever written.
2. The Farewell Symphony (1997)
An elegiac novel about gay life before and during the AIDS crisis.
Named after Haydn's symphony (in which musicians leave the stage one by one until only silence remains), The Farewell Symphony is the final installment in White's autobiographical trilogy. It follows an unnamed narrator—a stand-in for White—through the sexual liberation of the 1970s and the devastation of AIDS in the 1980s and '90s.
The novel is both a celebration and a eulogy, capturing the hedonistic freedom of pre-AIDS New York and Fire Island, where sex and art intertwined effortlessly. But as friends and lovers begin to die, the tone shifts to one of mourning and survivor's guilt. White's ability to balance humor, eroticism, and grief makes this one of his most powerful works—a definitive account of a generation lost.
3. My Lives (2005)
A memoir structured thematically rather than chronologically, offering intimate glimpses into White's psyche.
Instead of a linear life story, My Lives is divided into chapters such as 'My Shrinks,' 'My Hustlers,' and 'My Blonds,' each exploring a different facet of White's identity. The result is a kaleidoscopic self-portrait that is funny, self-deprecating, and unflinchingly honest.
Highlights include his hilarious yet painful recollections of therapy (where psychiatrists tried to 'cure' his homosexuality), his complicated relationship with his abusive father, and his candid accounts of sexual escapades. What makes My Lives so compelling is White's refusal to conform to conventional memoir tropes.
4. Genet: A Biography (1993)
A masterful biography of the infamous French writer and criminal-turned-literary-icon.
White spent seven years researching Jean Genet, the gay outlaw whose novels (Our Lady of the Flowers, The Thief's Journal) glorified theft, betrayal, and queer desire. The biography is both a meticulous study of Genet's life and a meditation on the intersections of art, transgression, and politics.
White's deep empathy for his subject shines through, particularly in passages about Genet's impoverished childhood and later activism for the Black Panthers and Palestinians. The book won critical acclaim and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, solidifying White's reputation as a formidable biographer.
5. The Joy of Gay Sex (1977, co-authored with Charles Silverstein)
A sex manual that celebrated gay desire without shame. Written before the AIDS crisis, The Joy of Gay Sex was an affirming guide that treated homosexuality not as a pathology but as a source of pleasure and connection. Covering everything from cruising to BDSM, it combined practical advice with White's elegant prose, making it both useful and literary.
Though some sections are dated (particularly in light of HIV), the book remains a fascinating artifact of a freer era. It was one of the first mainstream books to discuss gay sexuality openly, paving the way for future queer writers.
6. The Married Man (2000)
A heartbreaking novel about love, mortality, and the lingering scars of AIDS.
Loosely based on White's relationship with his partner Hubert Sorin (who died of AIDS in 1994), The Married Man follows Austin, an American writer in Paris, as he falls for Julien, a married French architect. Their romance is sadly shadowed by Julien's declining health.
White's novel, unlike most AIDS narratives, is unsentimental yet deeply moving. He captures the small, everyday intimacies of love alongside the bureaucratic horrors of illness such as hospital visits, insurance battles, the slow erosion of a body. It is one of his most emotionally resonant works.